Sunday, January 19, 2014

10 Statements Disproving the Use of Learning Styles in Education

I've previously written about What Works In Education, what doesn't work is using Learning Styles, whether its Visual-Auditory-Kinesthetic Learning, Multiple Intelligences, VARK, or some other form. Yet well-meaning educators continue to use such approaches despite the overwhelming evidence against their effectiveness (and even possible harm).

Below are 10 statements disproving the value of incorporating learning styles in instruction.

Learning style inventories make use of forced-response
choices causing people to make the same choices. “Nearly everybody would prefer
a demonstration in science class to an uninterrupted lecture. This doesn’t mean
that such individuals have a visual style, but that good science teaching
involves demonstrations.” (Stahl)

Some of the best known and widely used instruments have
such serious weaknesses (e.g. low reliability, poor validity, and negligible
impact on pedagogy) that we recommend that their use in research and practice
be discontinued. (Coffield)

Recognition of individuals’ strengths and weaknesses is good
practice; using this information, however, to categorize children and prescribe
methods can be detrimental to low-performing students. Although the idea of
reading style is superficially appealing, critical examination should cause
educators to be skeptical of this current educational fad. (Snider)

It is nonsense to hold the idea that some of your students
can be classified as visual learners, whereas others, within the same class are
auditory learners. There is simply no known validity to making any such
classifications on the basis of either neurology or genuine behavioural
performance. (Hattie)

There is not adequate evidence base to justify incorporating
learning styles assessments into general education practice. Thus, limited
education resources would better be devoted to adopting other educational
practices that have strong evidence base, of which there are an increasing
number. (Pashler, McDaniel, Rohrer, & Bjork)

"VAK (Visual-Auditory-Kinesthetic) is “’nonsense’ from a neuroscientific point of view.
‘Humans have evolved to build a picture of the world through our senses working
in unison, exploiting the immense interconnectivity that exists in the
brain….The rationale from employing VAK learning styles appears to be weak.
After more than 30 years of educational research into learning styles there is
no independent evidence that VAK, or indeed any other learning style inventory,
has any direct educational benefits.” ~Susan Greenfield, director of the Royal Institute and a
professor of pharmacology at Oxford University (Henry)

The scientific research on learning
styles is “so weak and unconvincing,” concluded a group of distinguished
psychologists in a 2008 review, that it is
not possible “to justify incorporating learning-styles assessments into general
educational practice.” A 2010 article
was even more blunt: “There is no credible evidence that learning styles
exist,” wrote University of Virginia cognitive scientist Daniel Willingham and
co-author Cedar Riener. While students do have preferences about how they
learn, the evidence shows they absorb information just as well whether or not
they encounter it in their preferred mode. (Murphy Paul)

Because the vast majority of
educational content is stored in terms of meaning and does not rely on visual,
auditory, or kinesthetic memory, it is not surprising that researchers have
found very little support for the idea that offering instruction in a child's
best modality will have a positive effect on his learning. (Willingham)

There
are undoubtedly individual differences inperceptual acuities which are modality
based, and include visual, auditory and kinaesthetic sensations (although smell
and taste are more notable), but this does not mean that learning is restricted
to, or even necessarily associated with, one’s superior sense.(Geake)

The vast majority of educators will
tell you that learning styles are a proven fact. But they’re not. They are an
unproven theory that may be useful. Stop assuming that just because other
teachers say something is so, that they’re right. Stop assuming that because
most everyone treats learning styles as an accepted “fact” that they are right.
(Jensen)

Jensen, Eric. "Are Learning Styles
a Big Hoax? What Does the Latest Science Say About Different Learners?" Brain
Based Learning Brain Based Teaching Articles From Jensen Learning Are Learning
Styles a Big Hoax What Does the Latest Science Say About Different Learners
Comments. N.p., 4 May 2010. Web. 19 Jan. 2014.

3 comments:

It is a great post. I agree with you anymore. Also great blog here with all of the valuable information you have. Keep up the good work you are doing here. Thank you for sharing such a useful post. opslagruimte

I agree. These instruments may offer some insight to the individual, but to based curriculum around them would be a bit unsound. Ten years ago we were mandated to give these surveys and use/document how we implemented. As a middle school teacher I found it humorous how kids responded to the surveys ... not with who they are, but rather who they wanted to be.

That last point is so important and speaks to one of the biggest issues associated with learning styles in the classroom: inaccurate self-assessments tell us nothing more than how a student perceives him/herself. I too gave the surveys (before I saw the light) and noticed the same thing, students answered with who they wanted to be.

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About Me

I'm an associate principal at Monticello High School in Charlottesville, Virginia. Before moving to Charlottesville, I was an assistant principal at Kettle Run
High School in Nokesville, VA and before that I
taught world history, freshman seminar, individual reading and academic
coaching at Fauquier High School. I also coached girls basketball and
boys lacrosse while at FHS. Additionally, I taught and coached for 6
years at Rappahannock County High School. I also spent 1 year at Cedars
Academy in Bridgeville, Delaware.

I'm a co-moderator of #vachat, a weekly Twitter conversation for
Virginia (and non-Viriginians too) educators. We chat every Monday at 8
ET.

Most importantly, I'm a father and grandfather I have 4
wonderful children and a couple of grandchildren. In my free time, I enjoy outdoor activities, cooking,
reading, sports, and, of course, spending time with family.